Modern epigenetics methods in biological research

Abstract

The definition of epigenetics refers that molecular modifications on DNA that can regulate gene activity are independent of DNA sequence and mitotically stable. Notably, epigenetics studies have grown exponentially in the past few years. Recent progresses that lead to exciting discoveries and groundbreaking nature of this area demand thorough methodologies and advanced technologies to move epigenetics to the forefront of molecular biology. The most recognized epigenetic regulations are DNA methylation, histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). This review will discuss the modern techniques that are available to detect locus-specific and genome-wide changes for all epigenetic codes. Furthermore, updated analysis of technologies, newly developed methods, recent breakthroughs and bioinformatics pipelines in epigenetic analysis will be presented. These methods, as well as many others presented in this specific issue, provide comprehensive guidelines in the area of epigenetics that facilitate further developments in this promising and rapidly developing field.

Keywords: Advanced technologies; DNA methylation; Epigenetics; Histone modifications; Methods; Non-coding RNAs.

Figure 1

Algorithmic representation for appropriate method selections of different epigenetic codes. Different methods are chosen for DNA methylation analysis on 5mC (blue), histone modification (orange) and ncRNAs (red) depended on the purpose of the study design.